Estimated studying time: 6 minutes

Key takeaways

• Baristas are designing {custom} brewers to face out in competitions.
• Some prototypes attain shoppers; others stay competition-only brewers.
• Cup high quality and method nonetheless matter greater than gear alternative.
• Customized brewing requires 3D printing entry and manufacturing know-how.

Handbook brewers just like the Hario V60, Kalita Wave, Origami, and Orea are sometimes the selection of World Brewers Cup rivals. However in recent times, a small variety of baristas have designed their very own.

The obvious current instance is the Binocular Dripper, developed by Mariam Erin, a multi-time UAE Espresso Champion and the 2023 World Cezve/Ibrik Championship bronze medallist. The system makes use of two tall, slender cones, every set at a 30° angle, permitting all sides to be brewed independently with totally different coffees, doses, grind sizes, and pour patterns. 

Mariam calls the method “moist mixing”. Throughout her routine, she used the Binocular Dripper to mix a Panama Gesha with a Colombian Gesha, which she mentioned helped stability the florality and purple berry notes.

“That’s the great thing about brewing, particularly in competitions. It pushes everybody to discover, innovate, and be inventive to attain the very best model of the cup,” she says. “On the identical time, this doesn’t imply present drippers don’t work; each is exclusive and designed with a particular intention for the cup or a selected espresso.”

As extra rivals more and more gravitate in the direction of related high-end coffees and extraction instruments, custom-designing brewers is a brand new technique to differentiate. These units additionally feed into the competitors’s storytelling side, giving baristas a technique to construct a recognisable model past the stage.

You may additionally like our article on the evolution of paper espresso filters.

From competitors stage to espresso store cabinets

The Binocular Dripper wasn’t the one {custom} brewer on the 2025 World Brewers Cup. UK Barista Champion Luca Croce mixed an Origami dripper with a Hario Change valve to create a custom-designed hybrid brewer. Throughout his routine, he mentioned this allowed him to attain the very best outcomes with each flat-bottom brews and full-immersion blooms.

Jackie Tran, the 2024 Czech Republic Brewers Cup Champion, designed the Solo Dripper after competing on the 2024 World Brewers Cup in Chicago. The flat-bottom dripper includes a 40° inner angle, a curved base, and precision ribs meant to advertise even extraction.

Its influence on competitions and past was swift. The next 12 months, George Jinyang Peng used the Solo Dripper to win the 2025 World Brewers Cup in Jakarta, and it’s shortly changing into a fixture in house brewing setups and low store brew bars.

Equally, the Binocular Dripper can be obtainable on Brewing Devices, and launched at World of Espresso Dubai earlier this 12 months. However not each prototype brewer makes it to market.

“The objective isn’t at all times to deliver it to the house shopper. In lots of circumstances, the prototype is a proof of idea, serving to push boundaries and discover new methods of extraction in a contest setting,” Mariam explains. “However generally, if the thought proves useful and accessible, it may evolve right into a product for a broader market.”

Designing a competition-ready brewer, nevertheless, requires entry to 3D printing, manufacturing companions, or product improvement expertise. 

“Shifting from a contest prototype to a commercially obtainable product takes time, testing, and refinement,” Mariam explains. “A prototype is commonly designed to attain a really particular objective within the cup, however turning it right into a product means making it extra constant, user-friendly, and sensible for a wider viewers.”

The influence of {custom} brewers on espresso competitions

For now, large-scale commercially obtainable brewers dominate competitions just like the World Brewers Cup. However because it turns into customary for rivals to make use of cutting-edge extraction instruments and unique varieties, designing a custom-built brewer could possibly be the brand new technique to stand out on stage and construct a extra curated private model.

Customized brewers give rivals a bodily, recognisable product tied on to their title, and sign intentionality, technical data, and a perspective on extraction. If a prototype makes it to market, the brewer additionally turns into a business product that carries the barista’s model into espresso retailers and residential brewing setups around the globe.

Nonetheless, this additionally raises questions on a degree taking part in area. Might baristas who’ve entry to extra assets to design their very own brewers have an unfair benefit?

Mariam asserts this isn’t the case. “WBrC guidelines and laws already present a transparent framework to make sure equity. The emphasis stays on sensory high quality, consistency, and method, fairly than gear alone,” she explains. “Whereas innovation is inspired, the principles make sure that all baristas, no matter entry to {custom} {hardware}, are judged totally on abilities, brewing and low data, presentation, customer support, and the general high quality of their cup.”

Ability is extra necessary

Mariam emphasises that gear shouldn’t be the main focus of a competitor’s routine. “Creativity comes from how baristas use variables like grind dimension, pouring method, water, and recipe to precise the espresso. Even with related brewers, the result within the cup can fluctuate broadly.”

Whether or not a competitor opts for a commercially obtainable brewer or designs their very own, essentially the most essential issue is knowing the way it influences extraction and flavour.

“Customized brewers are just one small a part of the scoring system, and so they solely matter in the event that they positively influence the sensory expertise,” she provides. “The brewer does matter, nevertheless it’s solely efficient if the competitor can clearly clarify its goal and the way it improves the cup. Ultimately, all the pieces has to translate into cup high quality, flavour, stability, and total expertise.”

Customized brewers supply one other technique to expertise espresso. For baristas with the assets and inclination to pursue it, designing a brewer is a technique to sign experience, construct a model, and resolve extraction issues that present units can’t.

However Mariam places it instantly: judges rating talent, method, and cup high quality. A well-designed brewer {that a} competitor can’t clearly clarify or translate into flavour is not any assure of victory.

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Picture credit: Mariam Erin, Brewing Devices, Specialty Espresso Affiliation

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